God’s Promised Rest – Part I
HEBREWS 4:1-11
THIS WEEK WE WILL LOOK AT ANOTHER WONDERFUL PASSAGE from the great book of Hebrews. What a blessed experience this study has already been for me, and I pray you would agree. We will be focusing today on rest, “God’s Promised Rest.” God has promised believers a rest. God never breaks or forgets a promise He makes. In my studies this week I read that, “There are more references to the promises of God in Hebrews than in any other book in the New Testament.” – Broadman Commentary. God has promised a rest to believers and God will make that promise good.
RATHER THAN OFFERING YOU A CONCISE DEFINITION OF THE WORD “REST” HERE AT THE BEGINNING OF OUR STUDY, AS I WOULD USUALLY DO, because of the complexities involved, I have decided to allow the definition to develop over the course of our study. I intend to strive to define rest in the clearest and most comprehensive way possible, but, as I believe the text itself and this blog will convincingly show, the difficulties in accomplishing such a task are inordinate.
BEFORE DEFINING “REST,” THIS BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE PASSAGE.
THIS PASSAGE (VV. 1-11) REPRESENTS THE THIRD WARNING IN THE BOOK OF HEBREWS…
THE FIRST WARNING WAS A WARNING NOT TO DRIFT away from God’s Word…
NAS Hebrews 2:1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
NAS Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
THE SECOND WARNING WAS “HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS,” the focus of our study last week…
NAS Hebrews 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
THE THIRD WARNING IS NOT TO COME SHORT OF GOD’S PROMISED REST, our passage for the next couple of weeks in its entirety…
NAS Hebrews 4:1-11 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.
THE FIRST AND LAST VERSES OF THE FOCUS PASSAGE IN CHAPTER 4 FOR EMPHASIS…
NAS Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
NAS Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.
THE WRITER TO THE HEBREW CHRISTIANS IN THE FIRST CENTURY. in great part, is warning his readers – and, by the spiritual extension of God’s Word, us – not to lapse back into the old ways, but to go on in faith
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE HAS OFTEN BEEN DESCRIBED AS “ALREADY-NOT YET.” Numerous scholars are reconsidering the merits of this general interpretational approach, but it remains relevant and popular. The reasons why this phraseology is debated by some theologians has to do with the understanding and timing of the Messianic kingdom, which is a subject for another blog. You may have heard that paradoxical term before: “already-not yet.” The moment we receive Christ by faith and are saved, we already possess all the riches of Christ. Spiritually speaking, the instant we are saved we are already citizens of heaven (the verb in Philippians 3:20 is present tense). But practically speaking, that is, in speaking of the reality of our lives on earth, a great part of our salvation is “not yet”. Seen from God’s heavenly perspective, our salvation is complete right now. But seen from this earthly perspective, salvation is past, present, and future: we have been saved (justification); we are being saved (sanctification), and we will be saved (glorification). To us, salvation is a process…
THE PREACHER/TEACHER WHO WROTE HEBREWS DIRECTLY ADDRESSED this progressive process. In great part he wrote to warn believers not to fall back but to keep going, to continue the journey of faith they had begun, keeping their focus on Jesus who is superior to anything and everything. The original readers of Hebrews – mainly Jewish Christians – were tempted to return to the religion of Judaism; many Christians today are tempted to lapse back into the world. The book of Hebrews encouraged them and encourages us today to go on. Hebrews is a great book for us today.
THERE IS NO BREAK IN THE WRITER’S ARGUMENT from chapter 3. Many of the chapter breaks in our English Bibles are regrettable. There really should be no interruption. Psalm 95 is still the Old Testament background, as it was in chapter 3. The author is exhorting and warning his readers to examine themselves, not to harden their hearts and miss the promised rest because of unbelief. Let’s read Psalm 95 again…
NAS Psalm 95:7-11 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness; When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
THESE PROMISES GOD MAKES ARE PERSONAL. That is, they are made to you and to me, His children today. In this day when so many relationships are impersonal, when so many people with whom we interact daily do not know nor do they care to know our names, God knows our names. God loves us and is lovingly aware of everything that is going on in our lives. The writer of the book of Hebrews, under the influence of this same loving God, spoke not to humanity in mass, but to mostly first-century believers, and today to you and to me. When you read God’s Word in this study, may I remind you, God is speaking directly to you personally.
AS WE BEGIN THE PROCESS OF DEFINITION, I NEED TO TELL YOU 2 ESSENTIAL THINGS ABOUT REST: (1) its general definition and (2) the different dimensions, or aspects of rest presented in our passage…
FIRST, THE GENERAL DEFINITION OF REST. What exactly is meant by the word rest? If you consult a secular dictionary, you will find there are more than 40 connotations listed for both the noun and the verb. For example, rest is a good night’s sleep; refreshment after exertion or labor; relief or freedom from trouble; a period or interval of inactivity, repose, solitude, or tranquility – we say a “rest period.” There is a resting place along the highway – we take a “rest stop.” And, of course, there is the rest that is associated with death – “he was laid to rest.” If that person was a believer in the Lord Jesus, then we would say that she has entered eternal rest. In general, “rest” may be described as ceasing from labor or exertion or tribulation.
BIBLICALLY SPEAKING, “REST” BASICALLY MEANS THE SAME THING: “to cease from labor.” Rest is big word in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. It is found some 230 times in the O.T., where about a half dozen Hebrew words are translated rest; and 44 times in the New Testament. That is considerable.
HERE IS AN EXCELLENT GENERAL DEFINITION OF BIBLICAL “REST”… “The English word rest and the Greek word (κατάπαυσις ka-ta-paw-sis) that translates rest mean “the state of cessation from work or from any kind of action. You stop doing what you are doing. Action, labor, or exertion is over. Applied to God’s rest, it means no more self-effort as far as salvation is concerned. It means the end of trying to please God by our feeble, fleshly works. God’s perfect rest is a rest in free grace (in other words, God is the one giving this biblical rest – TAR). To enter God’s rest means to be at peace with God, to possess the perfect peace He gives. It means to be free from guilt. It means freedom from worry about sin, because sin is forgiven. God’s rest is the end of legalistic works and the experience of peace in the total forgiveness of God. In God’s rest we are forever established in Christ. We are freed from running from philosophy to philosophy, from religion to religion, from life-style to life-style. We are free from being tossed about by every doctrinal wind, every idea or fad, that blows our way. In Christ we are established, rooted, grounded, unmovable. That is the Christian rest.” – John MacArthur
HERE IS THE SECOND THING I NEED TO TELL YOU: When you read the passage carefully there seems to be 3 or even 4 different rests. Some commentators have suggested different categories to describe these different rests. I myself at one point leaned toward this view. But after reviewing this passage all week in study, I humbly believe it would be better to say that there is one rest and that Hebrews 4:1-11 deals with 3 or 4 different dimensions of that one rest. Because of these different dimensions to rest, it will, no doubt, be difficult for you to follow me at certain points of this first blog. I apologize for that but see no way to avoid it and still be true to the Scripture. I encourage you read this passage carefully on your own, noting the distinctions you see.
WE SEE “GOD’S REST” IN V.1. It may be described as a general rest intended for believers…
NAS Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
- It is God’s rest
- It is available, this promised rest – “a promise remains”
- We should tremble with fear over the possibility of not entering this rest
- So, it is possible to miss this promised rest of God’s
PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY V. 2.There is a strong lesson for us here…
NAS Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
- The believer has heard the Word of God; the gospel has been widely preached
- Hearing is not enough; the word must be acted upon
- Faith is the means by which we act upon what we hear
- Think of so many in the church today who hear the Word every Sunday but never act upon throughout the week
THERE IS AN ASPECT OF GOD’S REST I CALL HIS “CREATION REST”…
NAS Hebrews 4:3-4 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
THE FIRST PART OF V. 3 REFERS TO GOD’S REST, SO IT IS VERY MUCH THE SAME AS V. 1, but the second half refers specifically to God resting on the seventh day after His six days of creation…
NAS Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
THE SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT GOD BEGAN HIS REST THEN. ‘The fact that He is never said to have completed His rest and resumed His work of creation implies that His rest continues still, and may be shared by those who respond to His (loving – TAR) overtures with faith and obedience.” – F.F. Bruce
“GOD’S REST” FOR BELIEVERS IN V. 1 AND HIS “CREATION REST” in vs. 3-4 are the same. They are best seen, I believe, as two different dimensions or aspects of God’s rest.
ANOTHER TERM FOR “CREATION REST” WOULD BE “SABBATH REST.” The Sabbath rest is a picture of our rest in Christ through salvation…
NKJ Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
THE SABBATH WAS A SIGN, AS IN “SIGNS AND WONDERS.”
THIS IS A GOOD TIME FOR ME TO REMIND US ALL THAT HEBREWS IS A VERY JEWISH BOOK. It was written primarily to Jewish Christians. The analogies all involve Jewish figures and institutions. The argument the writer is using could be described as Jewish. Consider this passage. The background is an O.T. Psalm. The Sabbath is an O.T Jewish institution. I did some reading in several Jewish books and other books I have in my library that stress the Hebrew heritage of the N.T. Here are a couple of relevant comments concerning Psalm 95 and the Sabbath…
- “Only the joyous song of Torah study can lift Israel out of the present wilderness of exile. Surely Israel will be redeemed when every Jew turns to his brother and declares: ‘Let us strive for spiritual excellence and ecstasy and sing joyously to HASHEM!” (“HaShem” means literally, “the Name” and is one of the ways Jews speak of God without using the name “God” – TAR).
- “On the eve of the Sabbath, the holiest of days, when Israel is granted a glimmer of the future world of spiritual bliss, it is customary to welcome the Sabbath service with this Psalm and its call: ‘Come! Let us sing to HASHEM!’” – Artscroll
- It is interesting that in the Artscroll Commentary (probably the most respected of all Jewish commentaries), in v. 11 of Psalm 95, instead of “rest” they have “land of contentment.” The Jews are very much a “land” people.
- From another book, a Hebrews commentary by Hugh Montefiore: “To the Jew, the Sabbath is the image of the world to come. Our author’s conception of heaven is a Sabbath rest is therefore in accordance with Jewish thought. The use of the imagery of the wilderness wanderings and of the idea of rest reflect some of his (and the Jews’ – TAR) deepest convictions and expresses some of his fundamental attitudes toward the Christian life. To him life is a struggle, fittingly concluded by a Sabbath rest. The Jewish scriptures contain many references both to the rest which God will give to His people after their wanderings, and the rest which God gives to individuals to meet their need for peace and repose.”
WARREN WIERSBE, an old and solid commentator, does a fine job, I believe, in attempting to come to grips with the distinctions of the “rests” in this passage by dividing them up into “past,” “present,” and “future.” But I respectfully think the classifications I will use are quite sufficient for this blog.
MANY SCOLARS SEE IN THE TEXT ALSO A “CANAAN REST” ASPECT OF REST. Canaan, you will remember, was the promise land, the land flowing with “milk and honey” to which God was leading the nation of Israel after bringing them out of their slavery in the land of Egypt. In this O.T. aspect of rest the writer saw illustrations of experiences of believers today. The Canaan rest is a picture of our present rest as we claim our inheritance in Christ. Some have termed the Creation or Sabbath rest a rest of salvation, while the Canaan rest is a rest of submission (Wiersbe).
I LIKE MUCH OF WIERSBE’S WRITINGS AND I do sincerely respect much of what he has contributed to the body of Christ through his many books over the years. He was a good and very capable man who consistently did his best to communicate clearly the love and the gospel of Christ. However, in all humble honesty, I must confess that he is generally too loose and figurative, as opposed to academic and scholarly, for my personal tastes. I am including quotes and allusions from his commentary on Hebrews only because of his emphasis on the Jewishness of this passage.
THE WRITER OF HEBREWS QUOTES AGAIN FROM PSALM 95…
NAS Hebrews 4:5 and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.”
THE DISOBEDIENCE OF THE PEOPLE PROMPTED THESE HARSH WORDS.
“THERE IS A LINE, by us unseen, That crosses every path. The hidden boundary between God’s patience and his wrath.” – Ray Steadman
GOD’S REST HAS REMAINED OPEN TO HIS PEOPLE SINCE HIS WORK of creation was finished, but it can be forfeited by disobedience…
BUT THE QUESTION REMAINS: WHAT EXACTLY IS BIBLICAL REST?
I’ve given you a lot of good, accurate information about rest in Hebrews but I suspect that many of you after reading this blog still struggle with coming up with a direct and concise answer to the question. Here it is, and I’ll end with this…
GOD’S REST CAN ULTIMATELY BE DEFINED IN ONE WORD: CHRIST! Biblical rest is salvation in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
